GATHER
Role: Product Manager/ Product Designer (Team of 2 // 2 weeks)
Goal: Define and validate a problem/ solution and product/ market fit
We introduced ‘Gather’: connecting event organizers (guests) with property owners (hosts). Guests can find and book unique and affordable rental spaces for events such as dinner parties and workshops. Hosts receive an additional revenue stream while their space would otherwise be vacant. Gather is the ‘Airbnb for events’.
PROCESS
Identifying Frustrations
For Guests. Finding venue space is time consuming and inefficient. Current options are limited to online searches and asking friends, a narrow network. Spaces, once found, are often expensive restaurant or gallery buyouts. 40% of survey responders organize parties on monthly basis, and the majority considered price to be the defining factor on where to host events.
For Hosts. Commercial and privately owned spaces are underutilized when closed, such as nights and weekends. This represents untapped potential revenue. Spaces might include restaurants, flower shops, clothing stores, homes, backyards, and rooftops. Interviews not only confirmed our hypothesis that opening their doors after hours is desired and potentially profitable, some boutiques are already implementing this service and want to market it more extensively.
Our user research validated our assumption that there is a need to locate and book unique and affordable event spaces on both the guest and host sides. Armed with this problem/ solution fit, we created guest and host personas.
Sizing up the Market
Our research indicated a large market for underutilized commercial and private spaces. The market opportunity for small retail establishments in California alone is estimated at an extra $2.6B annual revenue during off-hours. This represents rent alone and does not factor in network expansion by bringing new people in the door and providing offerings on merchandise to boost sales. We discovered a Product/ Market opportunity worth exploring.
SOLUTION
The Gather MVP is a clickable mobile app prototype that creates a peer-to-peer marketplace for event organizers and property hosts. Guests and hosts can interact by listing, finding, and booking event spaces. Guests have the option to search by location, budget, and/or capacity size, and can schedule and pay directly from app which syncs with your calendar. They can ‘favorite’ any space they want for future reference, and view past history and upcoming bookings.
Deliverables include: User Research, Personas, Lean canvas, Market sizing, Competitive analysis, Exec Summary, Elevator Pitch, Fake PR, Sketches, Hi-Fi mockups, Click-through mobile app prototype (invision), Presentation